Edward Wollstonecraft

Edward Wollstonecraft (1783-1832) was a successful businessman in early colonial Australia. He was the nephew of the early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and cousin to Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the author of "Frankenstein".

In 1812, while travelling from Lisbon to Portugal, he met Alexander Berry, with whom he formed a trading partnership, intending to operate in the colony of New South Wales.

Wollstonecraft arrived in Australia in 1819 on the ship "Canada", and received a land grant from Governor Lachlan Macquarie for 2000 acres (8 km²), 500 acres (2 km²) of which were located on the north shore of Sydney Harbour running from what is now St Leonards to the foreshore. A warehouse was erected in George Street, Sydney, under the name of "Berry and Wollstonecraft".

In 1821, Wollstonecraft and Berry were granted 10,000 acres (40 km²) of land on the Shoalhaven River on the condition that they took responsibility for a hundred convicts.

A canal was built on the property. This work was undertaken with the assistance of Hamilton Hume and a party of convicts. The 209 yard long canal was completed in 12 days, and was the first canal in Australia.

The crops farmed at Shoalhaven included native cedar and tobacco, which were sold at considerable profit both to the growing colony at Sydney and for export. The property at Shoalhaven grew to 40,000 acres (162 km²) under Berry's management, while Wollstonecraft looked after business in Sydney.

Edward Wollstonecraft was active in local affairs, and involved in a number of societies and organisations in the colony, such as the Philosophical Society of Australasia (now the Royal Society of New South Wales), of which he was a founding member, and the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales, which organisation he served in the capacity of Steward and Secretary during the 1820s. He was appointed Director of the Bank of New South Wales in 1823 and a Justice of the Peace in 1824.

Edward Wollstonecraft suffered ill health and died in 1832, aged 49. A tomb was built for him by Alexander Berry near St Thomas' Anglican Church, North Sydney.

The suburb of Wollstonecraft is named after him, and the suburb of Crows Nest is named for his cottage on the north shore of Sydney Harbour, built in 1820 and demolished in 1905. The gates of the estate remain.

External links

* [http://www.daphnejohnson.btinternet.co.uk/Wollstonecraft/Chapter04.htm Genealogical information]
* [http://www.records.nsw.gov.au/indexes/colsec/w/F62c_win-wy-04.htm Colonial Secretary Index, 1788-1825, containing records relating to Edward Wollstonecraft]
* [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020564b.htm Biography] from the Australian Dictionary of Biography